Experimental and numerical study of heat transfer and flow characteristics with different placement of the multi-deck display cabinet in supermarket

Abstract

Abstract This work focuses on the heat transfer and flow characteristics with the different placement of the multi-deck display cabinet and tries to optimize the placement position of refrigerated display cabinet. First, the temperature distribution in a refrigerated display cabinet was experimentally investigated. The result showed that the food temperature in front is 3.6–4.8°C higher than back row of the same layer, and temperature fluctuation of 0.3–0.7°C less than the back row. Then, a three-dimensional numerical model of the display cabinet was established, and the k–ε model is employed to compare and analyze the heat transfer and air curtain characteristics. The results show that the placement methods have great influence on the performance of the display cabinet. The face-to-back placement method can acquire a better food refrigeration performance, and the food temperature of the face-to-back placement method is 0.3–0.5°C lower than that of the face-to-face placement method.